Ancestors
by Silver Shadowbreeze
Summary: Himura Kenshin had more to his ancestry than anyone could ever know. The truth behind the name Demon of Kyoto would be forever lost to time.


This bunny was inspired by Ocianne's bunny, Family, taking place several hundred years before the events mentioned there. The characters belong to their respective manga and creators. This is my take on the generations and my contribution to the ancestry of some of the world's most loved manga characters.

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The man known as Onime no Kyo was wed to one Shiina Yuya. Over the years, they had one son and two daughters.

While only the daughters gained the red eyes, they had their mother's hair. It was their brother who inherited their father's crimson locks, though his eyes were the color of deepest blue touched by his mother's sea-green. They all held a great portion of their father's fighting spirit, tempered by the will and influence of their mother.

It is not known to written history what happened to the daughters of Onime no Kyo after they parted ways from their parents, though it is said that they joined ninja clans instead of walking the path of the samurai. However, their brother took up his father's sword and learned the ways of Mumyo Jinpuu Ryuu Satsujin Ken. He fought in the shadows of the Edo period to balance the sway of power held by the Tokugawa regime. Unlike his father, he preferred to keep his existence silent. When several years had tempered his blade, he settled down with a daughter of one Shiseiten no Akira and former Goyousei no Tokito. To them were born two boys, both with their father's hair, their mother's more delicate features, and eyes the color of sapphire.

History will never tell of what happened next during the rise of two masters of the Mumyo Jinpuu Ryuu. It will never tell of the terrible fight between two of the same blood, resulting from the elder's jealousy, his coveting of the Red Throne. It will never tell of the final death-match between power-hungry and peace-lover, resulting in the total destruction of the once-mighty Mibu clan… a battle ended by the honest, striving will to live and the cry of a wounded heart as the life of a father fell, extinguished by the return-stroke inflicted upon him during the deathblow on his firstborn… sparing the younger from the pain of killing a brother through the equal pain of losing a father.

The younger grandson of Onime no Kyo tried to forsake the way of the sword. He started a family with the youngest daughter of one Sarutobi Sasuke, trying to put his feared ancestor's legacy behind him. When he found he could not remove that which was a part of him, he vowed never to teach his three sky-eyed and amber-pupiled children the killing skill of his grandfather's sword. He taught them only what sword skills they would need to survive in a world of war and bloodshed. It is at this time that the name Tenro vanishes from all records, never to resurface again.

And so the legend goes, as blood was no longer shed in countless measures by the descendants of Onime no Kyo's grandson, the generations afterwards had hair the color of flame instead of their ancestor's darker shade of lifeblood crimson- though it was known as superstition to all except the most knowledgeable. Though the samurai blood could never leave the family line, the next few generations lived as farmers, unaware of their history. This blood would lay dormant, waiting for the time when a spark would light within a worthy individual and once again set ablaze a warrior's fighting spirit.

Their warrior origins would forever be forgotten by the time one surnamed Himura rose from his farmer heritage with hair a brighter shade than his legendary ancestor and eyes the color of both amethyst and glowing amber: marks of the truth that lay behind ancient myth, lost forever to the mists of the Edo period. Even through the ages, the legacy of his ancient sire, the curse of being the strongest, would still haunt him. Those who died by his blade during the Bakumatsu would never know the truth behind the one they called Demon of Kyoto. Neither would his friends of the Meiji era, who remained with him in the years after he took up the sakabatou, ever know. He himself would never know the true reason why the fire of battle was so active within him.

After all, who but a samurai through blood could change history through the spirit of his sword?


End file.
